For many years it has been recognized that residential toilets, in performing their function, often require only a fraction of the water actually consumed per flush. For example, the elimination of liquid waste may require only half of the 5-6 gallon capacity of the tank. Nevertheless, by design, the standard toilet flush does not have the capacity to reduce water consumption accordingly. Invariably the tank is drained with each and every flush, thereby resulting in inefficient and wasteful use of water.
Teachings presently in the art have attempted to solve this problem by modification or replacement of the existing flush mechanism which thereby affords a degree of user control over the amount of water used per flush. Examples of prior art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,001,390; 3,758,893; 3,906,554; 3,999,223; 4,038,707; 4,067,074; 4,117,556; 4,141,092; and 4,225,987.
All of the above references, however, lack one or more necessary elements for successful wide utilization in the industry. That is, these prior art references may be prohibitively expensive, too complicated, require the complete replacement of the existing flush mechanism or may be used with only certain models of commodes.
There is perceived thereby a need to provide a mechanism which will reduce the amount of water wasted in the flushing operation and which does not have the above-mentioned disadvantages.